Our tainted times.

Hank Aaron:

"Throughout the past century, the home run has held a special place in baseball and I have been privileged to hold this record for 33 of those years. I move over now and offer my best wishes to Barry and his family on this historic achievement.

"My hope today, as it was on that April evening in 1974, is that the achievement of this record will inspire others to chase their own dreams."

Bud Selig:

"While the issues which have swirled around this record will continue to work themselves toward resolution, today is a day for congratulations on a truly remarkable achievement," Selig said.

Bonds did it with a shot to the deepest part of the ballpark with one out in the fifth inning against Washington's Mike Bacsik. Bonds sent the 84-mph fastball arcing high into the night, 435 feet into the right-center field seats. And then, the celebration began in force - fireworks, streamers, banners commemorating the accomplishment, and even a party in McCovey Cove.

Remember that cute little gymnast from Wisconsin? Competing in the Olympics alongside his twin brother? All-American boys, they were. Remember the controversy when the Asian gymnast bested him on the floor, but because the judges erred in scoring, the cute little guy packed up his medal and took it home?

Remember how the U.S. Supreme Court disregarded established precedent leaving these matters to the States, and intervened in the 2000 election, awarding GWB the presidency? Sure after the fact, when all the mismarked ballots were sorted through and those to be counted were counted, they backed up the Court decision. But the victory came from the courts, not the counts. There will always be that footnote in history.

We live in tainted times. End results matter. You catch a corporation bending the rules, they're fined, admit no guilt, and go on to produce other pills.

Politically, militarily, end results matter. Goals. How you got the job done -- the ugliness in the details, not so important. Playing by the rules works in a civilized world, when everybody else is doing the same. But the truth is, we're not.

Baseball is a stodgy old game, associated with lawyers all the way back. Finding a way around the rules is an artful, accepted part of that game.

Barry played. Barry won. Every single one of those homers left the field off of his bat. You really can't compare the athletes of yesterday and today, with all the performance-enhancing equipment and nutritional training and supplements.

Lance Armstrong allegedly cheated. Won him 7 titles too. Don't see too much outcry or reputation reassessment of the Golden Boy. It's our times. We accept that if there's no enforcement, then there's really no authority in a lot of fields today. Go out and make it your own: take risks, and do what you can with what you have. If there's a way to boost yourself, you'd be a damn fool not to take it, when everyone around you is. And from what we know of the past decade of baseball, it's not just Barry: he just managed to do the job of spanking out 756, more than anybody else playing the game today.

Everybody who wants to hang Barry out as an example should take a good look around at their workplaces, their schools, their government offices, their military leaders. Rules matter, but results matter most. OJ may be tainted, but he's walking free. President Bush may have gotten some special treatment, but he's the president. Just like kids today accept these basic facts and see past any taint, so too will they know Barry Bonds as the home run king, not a man who set a lesser record way back in the early 70s.

In short, it's not what the grown men today think of the taint; it's how the kids, the old men of tomorrow, read the record books. And like it or not, times have changed. Rules and authority and respectability fall to the wayside... it's the untainted results we accept, no matter the ugly details of what happened along the way.

The New Century Salutes Barry Bonds:

Get 'er done... Mission Accomplished.

"I knew I hit it," Bonds said. "I knew I got it. I was like, phew, finally."

His 17-year-old batboy son, Nikolai, was already bouncing on home plate as Dad rounded third and ran the final 90 feet to make it official. After a long embrace, the rest of the family joined in - his mother, two daughters and wife. And then there was Mays, who removed his cap and congratulated his godson.

Bonds saved his most poignant words for last, addressing his late father, Bobby.

"My dad," he said, looking to the sky and choking back tears. "Thank you."

And you gotta love all those people making easy money off the slugger's hard work:

A fan wearing a Mets jersey wound up with the historic ball. Matt Murphy of New York emerged from the stands with the souvenir and a bloodied face, and was whisked to a secure room.

If you think receipts are any measure of success, I gotta believe that this Barry Bonds is good for the game. And he's clearly an American man of his times. "This is ourselves..."